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USD $81.00
Pretoria Sightseeing Day Trip from Johannesburg
Johannesburg, South Africa
Discover Pretoria’s top sights on this 5.5-hour sightseeing tour from Johannesburg. With an expert guide, admire the highlights of South Africa’s elegant administrative capital, nicknamed the ‘Jacaranda City,’ for its annual purple jacaranda blooms, and learn about its tangled history. Stop outside the imposing Palace of Justice, where Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in 1964, and see the Union Buildings where he was made president 30 years later. Plus, visit Kruger House, once home to Boer leader Paul Kruger, and the mighty Voortrekker Monument before your return to Johannesburg.
Start your experience with a pickup from your hotel in the Sandton or Rosebank area of Johannesburg. Board your air-conditioned minivan or coach and hear interesting facts about Pretoria as you drive to South Africa's administrative capital.
After roughly 45 minutes, arrive in Pretoria and tour its historical highlights. Stroll the wide avenues and hear how the purple jacaranda that blooms here annually gave the city its nickname of ‘Jacaranda City’. Learn how Pretoria started life as a Boer farming community before becoming capital of the South African Republic or Transvaal in 1860.
Walk to Church Square and admire its stately public buildings. See the Palace of Justice, where Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964, and view the statue of Paul Kruger, or ‘Old Lion,’ the Boer leader and first president of the Republic.
Admire the City Hall and then stop outside the Union Buildings as your guide recounts how these sandstone-built government offices were the site of Mandela's inauguration as South Africa's president in 1994.
Visit Kruger House, the 19th-century home of Kruger. Explore its rooms, many restored to their former glory, and discover how the forceful Kruger led the Republic against the British during the Boer Wars.
Drive out of the city and see the vast Voortrekker Monument that honors the Afrikaner Voortrekkers (pioneers) who trekked into South Africa’s interior to settle in the 19th century. See the wagon-carved encircling wall and interior stone frieze that depicts scenes from the Voortrekkers' arduous journey.
Afterward, return to Johannesburg where your tour ends with a drop-off at your hotel.
Please note: the order of activities as described above may be subject to change on the day of your tour.
The tour was very informative! It and #39;s always good to have a native to the land tour you! Though I think this tour is very expensive (especially without a food option), I think we would have paid close to the amount for a taxi or rental to travel there.
Review by: panda63, January 2017
Our driver collected us and 2 other couples, 1 of the other couples were catching the Rovos train in Pretoria and were very tight for time , the driver drove very fast to the train and then proceeded to drive very slowly the rest of the tour . Given that ther were very few stops to make it seemed that he was spinning the tour out to make it last. All in all we did not think this tour was good value for money, our score of 3 stars is being generous. We went on other tours with other operators that were great value for money.
Review by: Peter R, December 2016
Fantastic tour!
Review by: James C, August 2016
Driver was a hour late and didn't now how to get to several places. He did have a good voice but would not recommend this tour with this guide. He left us a lone several times.
Review by: Annette B, July 2016
Very good, Lawrence is a great guide!
Review by: Angela S, June 2016
Good way to see Pretoria. And I have to mention Lawrence who'll make everything so much funnier plus he knows he's history and politics. Great tour!
Review by: Cornelia Veroni F, April 2016
Great! We saw everthing we wanted to see. Our guide was very nice and polite.
Review by: sanjiv, March 2016
Pretoria is a nice city but the tour felt rushed.
Review by: Carl B, March 2016
The Afrikaneer history shown is Pretoria is both surprising and moving. It was very worthwhile to make this side trip.
Review by: Tanveer A, January 2016
It was good tour but very over priced .
Review by: Riquelmy M, January 2016
This tour gives you some insight on the colonization of South Africa by the Dutch. It definitely helps you understand the present culture and why things are the way they currently are.
Review by: Raymond E, October 2014
Full day with lunch turned into half day without lunch and the streets of Pretoria were all torn to hell. Looked just like Texas.
Review by: shawng l, August 2014
Exceptional experiences and worth to do this tour .. Five stars to our guide
Review by: yoshihiro T, May 2014
Nice with many museum and sightseein spots,_br/_ but other than those, I myself like to see and feel more_br/_ daily life of citizens, such as market or downtowns.
Review by: Judith B, April 2014
Great tour led by a highly knowledgable and articulate guide. Phineas was phenomenal. He really made the day interesting and highly enjoyable.
Review by: Leszek R, December 2013
The tour was great only did not get to see the Church Square, Phenius(not certain about spelling) our guide was excellent, if you go ask for him (10 out of 10)
Review by: Marcelo Sechieri C. Neves, November 2013
A great experience and a wonderful guide/driver. We had a good time and the tour was what we expected.
Review by: DrHoward, September 2013
Hennie is an excellent tour guide. He has a strong interest in history, culture, and politics and reflects that interest in describing the development of his country.
Review by: Charlotte M, April 2013
Excellent guide, very knowledgeable about the history of the Voortrekker monument, Paul Kruger house and South Africa in general. Enjoyed the trip thoroughly and the lunch @ the Boer restaurant was very interesting, even catered for the vegetarian travel buddy :-))
Review by: TKG, January 2013
Excellent guide and a good lunch.
Review by: Christine H, June 2012
Well done. It was interesting to see and hear the story of the Dutch Afrikaners and their confrontations with English colonials.
Review by: Daryl Y, March 2012
We had a great guide who gave us a lot of very interesting information about the railroad, the reason for the move to Pretoria, the life of Kruger, etc. Going though Kruger's house was especially intersting, to be able to see how they lived in style back then. I also really enjoyed seeing Kruger's train car, very impressive!
Review by: Fiore L, December 2011
beautiful excursion with the person of the good Springbok and efficente
Review by: Cheryl W, August 2011
Our tour guide was named Lucky and we were lucky to be assigned to him!!! He was extremely knowledgable about all the sights, from the Voortrekker Monument to the current houses of parliament in Pretoria, to the Kruger House and Museum. He was even able to arrange a viewing of the original room where parliamentaians met!
Review by: Raphael S, July 2011
The guide was very nice and interesting. Unfortunately, since I was the only visitor to have booked the tour, I had to pay double to do the visit (as the visit runs from 2 visitors). That made it far too expensive for what it is. Otherwise, great experience, and very confortable to be picked up at the hotel.
Review by: Sanford E, April 2011
Guide was well informed. Worth taking the trip.
Review by: Sanford E, March 2011
Guide was well informed. Worth taking the trip.
Review by: Cheryl W, February 2011
Our tour guide was named Lucky and we were lucky to be assigned to him!!! He was extremely knowledgable about all the sights, from the Voortrekker Monument to the current houses of parliament in Pretoria, to the Kruger House and Museum. He was even able to arrange a viewing of the original room where parliamentaians met!
Review by: Martin A, Australia, June 2010
This tour definitively requires more time in Pretoria downtown. Time devoted to Union Buildings Park was the only correct regarding time devoted. The same for the Vortrekker monument.
Review by: Carolyn M, August 2008
Our guide was fantastic! The wealth of information he shared with us was great!
Review by: Carolyn M, October 2007
Our guide was fantastic! The wealth of information he shared with us was great!
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